Cult of the Deep
by Argon098
Summary: Anatha, a former Guardian, is tossed to the world in exile. With the help of her best friend together they come across a reclusive and mysterious cult. However there is more to this cult than meets the eye. With no light Anatha must uncover the truth behind the cult and put an end to their plans.


_"Quench your thirst for the deep my child. From its abyssal heart your true allies will emerge and chaos will reign supreme once more" ~The Stag_

The soft glow from the harsh flames bit at the metal walls surrounding the Last City. A young guardian sat nearby with her face partly buried behind a red wool scarf. Though such a snowy storm nipped at her cheeks, her glowing blue eyes stood out like little orbs of light brightly shimmering like the lights of a lighthouse. She stared hard into the heart of the fire and watched as little shapes danced about within its warm refuge. She had not recalled when she last felt such warmth around her, not since her childhood within the structures of The Reef perhaps. But those were days long since forgotten, during a time when a silence lay over the galaxy like a blanket of peace. Though this blanket was only a shroud to cover the true hardships yet to come.

Anatha stood and began packing her things. She travelled light as did most of the people who journeyed beyond the confines of The Last City. All she brought with her was what she had left to her legacy, a hand cannon she named Double Tap. Anatha took one final look towards the city walls and reflected on her past. People and memories that would be dearly missed, but now she must travel to somewhere safe. Anatha thought to herself of any nearby refuges that may take her in, but there were none.

Anatha returned her gaze toward the white wall of harsh snow blowing fiercely to the south. With any luck she would find a safe place to rest for the evening in the mountains just to the west, and so was her direction.

For twelve hours she walked, the freezing temperatures made it impossible for any tears to be shown in her eyes, but the pain was there. Anatha kept her head down as snow continued to pelt her. Another hard three hours passed until finally Anatha thought she could make out the faint outline of a mountain. She squinted and with no longer any doubt in her mind she knew she was nearing the closest mountain to the city.

"Just another few hours" she told herself as the snow deepened to her knees. Surely there would be somewhere to wait out this storm. Hours upon hours went by and still she did not see any sign of the mountain getting closer, until at long last she came to the base of the giant terrain. Anatha walked through a small nook that lead to a used trail. She pulled down her scarf and took a deep breath as the snowy storm seemed to begin to lessen.

The trail was narrow and windy, like a serpent slithering through two narrow ledges. The snow fell lightly as she walked along and the uneasy feeling crept upon her.

Anatha turned around and looked all about her, she felt like she was being watched. She slowly gripped Double Tap and continued on the trail. The uncanny feeling of eyes pierced her, but no sound was heard save the soft crunch of snow beneath her feet. This area was once littered with a hostile band of Fallen, an alien race who boasted themselves as galactic pirates more than anything else.

Before long Anatha came to a small cave just a few meters away from the trail. She set her few belongings inside and sat for a moment. The moon was now her only source of light as it dimly illuminated the trail and some nearby rocks. The area was fairly open here and Anatha guessed now that she was sitting in a small hub used once by Fallen.

Another hour passed and slowly Anatha felt her eyes become heavy. Though she could never ditch the feeling of being watched, she felt the mortal affliction of sleep begin to take her. She nodded and raised her head toward outside of the cave. As she dosed off she thought for a brief moment she caught a small light nearby. She nodded again though this time she squinted towards a rock where she thought the light had come from, but nothing was to be seen. Finally she felt the overwhelming sensation of sleep take her mind and she dreamed of the days of living in the tower. When those she called fellow guardians were always nearby, when she was seen as a hero amongst others, when Dryden could still call her friend. But now all she saw was the last look he ever gave her. The look of despair as she left the tower.

As she dreamed she was suddenly awoken by a sound. She startled awake and grabbed her gun. Unholstering it, Anatha's eyes scanned the area before her. She couldn't see a thing in the new blanketing wall of snow blowing. She closed her eyes and listened closely for anything that made any disturbance in the silence. After a few minutes Anatha's ears heard the soft sound of snow pitter patting, as if someone didnt wish to be heard. She opened her eyes and raised Double Tap, its red and blue lights shown brightly and menacingly within the mouth of the cave. The sound came again, pitter pat pitter pat, and then she saw what she had been dreading. Deep within the confines of the blowing snow there came a set of brightly glowing eyes. Though they were blue in color the dim moonlight and snowy veil made them appear as a cold, dead light. It was at this moment Anatha new she had been hunted by Fallen.

She raised her gun toward the eyes and aimed for a moment. More sets of eyes appeared nearby the first. She let loose a bullet from her hand cannon and it rang aloud. A loud boom echoed through the small area and within a moment one of the sets of eyes vanished with a shriek and a thud. The other eyes seemed to scream at her but she stood her ground, her heart was racing and she felt a lump form in her throat. "Could this be the end" she thought to herself, but at that same moment she felt the cold and harsh grip of a metal arm seize her by the neck and toss her out into the open. Trying to maintain some amount of footing Anatha stood as quickly as she could and looked toward the cave. Four large, red, glowing eyes shot at her from within and Anatha watched as a large Fallen Captain stepped out from the cave's shadows. He wore a long cloak and held a large rifle.

Anatha, somehow still holding her gun, quickly aimed at the captain and fired a few rounds. The captain's shields were lowered but he teleported just next to her and kicked her in the chest. She was flung back and fell upon her back as Double Tap skidded across some nearby ice. It was then four more Fallen soldiers approached. They all surrounded Anatha and the captain kicked her before stepping on her stomach, pinning her to the ground. Anatha let out a small groan of pain. She was trying to reach her knife on her belt but the captain had one of her arms pinned in place by a soldier. The captain raised his rifle to her head and began squeezing the trigger.

No sooner had the weapon begun to charge its shot, the captain suddenly stopped and jerked forward in pain nearly falling over on top of Anatha. The other Fallen had noticed a large burst of gunfire had suddenly come from the stormy veil and enter the back of their leader. They let out a few words in their own tongue and two of them began searching for this new threat. The captain watched as the two soldiers passed their line of sight into the storm. A few moments later some sounds of conflict were heard and both of the Fallen soldiers bad their corpses thrown back toward the captain.

The captain howled and, still pinning Anatha down, he began charging his weapon and set it against Anatha's head. Merely two seconds later and the rifle was shot out of the captain's hands. The Fallen looked and now could see a figure walking toward them. He had a gun holstered on his back, wore dark brown and green armor, and lightning seemed to spread across his body like ripples within water. The Fallen had no time to react as the figure approached. For he actually wasnt walking at all but floating with great speed, and with a simple flick of his wrist an enormous bolt of thunderous lightning came forth and smote the remaining fallen turning them into dust. Anatha quickly returned to her feet and grabbed her gun.

"I'm surprised to see you here," she said toward the man, "I didn't think you could stand me anymore."

She knew him well and was very confused as to why he was here.

"What no thank you? Come on An a little appreciation for the one who saved your skin, again." The man replied sarcastically as he took off his helmet. He was an Exo.

"Why are you here Dryden?" Asked Anatha. "I didn't think you could stand being with," she paused a moment as she met his eyes. He was looking at her intensely.

"Well," Dryden asked, then he continued, "with what An? An outcast? Come on you should know me better than that by now. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I gave up on ya?" Dryden lightly punched Anatha's arm.

Anatha chuckled softly. She looked at her old friend with a grim face, "That look on your face yesterday would say different.

"Oh and I can't be sad that my buddy was just tossed out? You know i may be a bucket of bolts An but I still have emotions." Dryden replied. His bright green eye lights flickered for a moment as he grinned towards her.

Anatha smiled, she was glad that Dryden was here, but knew ultimately that his stay would be short.

"You know how the Vanguard gets Dryden," she said, "they'd kick your ass out too if you stuck around with me."

Dryden put his helmet back on, "yeah but that's all part of the grand adventure isn't it." He said as he waved his hands at the mentioning of grand adventure. He continued as he walked toward one of the fallen soldiers, "besides the Vanguard don't need to know I'm here for now. All they know is that I'm out on some dumb patrol, monitoring Fallen Chatter and occasionally saving a damsel in distress." Dryden looked back at her and she laughed.

"Well for what it's worth Dry," she stated as she holstered her gun, "Thank you for helping me out. I owe you one."

"I'll just add it to your tab," Dryden replied with a wink. "So where you headed anyway?"

"I was thinking the Harbor for now," she replied, "at least there I could find stable shelter until I can get back to the Reef."

Dryden walked back over to her and said, "I havent been to the Harbor in years. Wonder if Pete still makes that excellent teriyaki. Well hey how about I give you a lift? It's a seven day trip on foot. We can make it an hour, and what happened to your ship?"

Anatha replied, "My ship was taken when I was stripped of my status Dry. As for my sparrow well, summoning it can't really happen since.." she paused for a moment and gave a painful look for a painful thought.

Dryden tested his arm on her shoulder and she looked at him

"Yeah," he said softly and sadly, "I know An." He nodded and awkwardly tried to comfort her, he wasnt the best with this sort of thing.

"Well then," he said suddenly snapping Anatha from her thoughts, "whether it's foot or not I will gladly accompany you. How many Fallen do you think will try to stop us along the way?"

An put her scarf back around the lower half of her face and responded, "Not enough for you to win this time."

"I'm sorry what's that," Dryden boasted sarcastically, "that sounds like saltiness talking."

"You detonated a fallen ship and crashed it into part of the city's outer wall Dryden," Anatha stated as her and Dryden began to walk the trail.

"Oh come on you would have done the same! What's a little creativity now and then? Besides it didn't do that much damage."

"Dry it blew half the wall down," Anatha chuckled, "the explosion looked huge from the tower!"

"Yeah," Dryden sighed very pleased with himself, "yes it was."


End file.
